The federal government announced Wednesday the end of a 32-year moratorium on northern cod fishing in Atlantic waters off its island province of Newfoundland.
Implemented in 1992, this fishing ban had left tens of thousands of people unemployed and devastated coastal communities.
“The end of the moratorium on northern cod is a historic step” in the restoration of commercial fishing, said Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, in a press release.
“We will revitalize this fishery with caution but optimism, the main beneficiaries being the coastal and indigenous communities,” added the minister.
The decision to impose a moratorium in 1992 was the result of intense overfishing which saw northern cod stocks fall to alarming levels.
However, this species was once abundant in the area, according to the first European explorers who described waters so full of fish that it was difficult to navigate by oar.
More than 20,000 fishermen made a living from fishing in the 1990s. They all lost their jobs with the arrival of the moratorium, causing an exodus of the population of Newfoundland to other Canadian provinces in search of work.
In October, Canada’s fisheries department said northern cod stocks in recent years had finally begun to recover and were no longer considered “critical.”
On Wednesday, Minister Diane Lebouthillier set the quantity of fish that can be caught this year at 18,000 tonnes, which is significantly lower than the 250,000 tonnes per year recorded at the end of the 1980s, before the moratorium.
